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Mulcair says he may need time to formulate laws on doctor-assisted suicide if elected

NDP leader accused the Conservative government of Stephen Harper of wasting time on the issue, then not consulting widely.

NDP leader Tom Mulcair says he preferred the approach taken by Quebec on doctor-assisted suicide. The government there set up a bi-partisan committee to travel the province seeking input from the population.
(Sean Kilpatrick / CP)

EDMONTON—Thomas Mulcair said an NDP government would likely need to ask the Supreme Court of Canada for an extension on drafting right-to-die legislation and that he would allow his MPs to vote with their conscience.

“I hope not to, but since we’ve lost so much time and wasted so much time, that’s a real possibility and it’s the most candid answer I could possibly give,” Mulcair told reporters Friday when he was asked whether an NDP government would seek more time to come up with laws surrounding physician-assisted suicide.

The Supreme Court reached a unanimous and historic decision known as Carter vs. Canada this February, when it said patients who are suffering desperately have a constitutional right to end their lives through doctor-assisted suicide.

The Supreme Court granted Parliament one year ending February 2016 to enact new legislation that would determine federal guidelines surrounding consent, timelines, the extent of medical assistance, residency requirements and other issues.

The other option would be not to enact federal legislation and the ruling would stand as an expression of principles, which states that people suffering from major illness, disease or disability that inflicts intolerable physical or psychological suffering have the constitutional right to physician-assisted suicide.

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The details would then be left up to the provinces and medical regulatory bodies.

The Conservative government said in February that it would not ask the Supreme Court for an extension, but Mulcair said he would probably have to.

“I want us to get there, but I’m just being very candid when I say the February deadline, forming government and probably being sworn in at the end of October . . . it would be very tough to meet, but we will do everything in our power to meet it,” Mulcair said.

The NDP leader accused the Conservative government of Stephen Harper of wasting time on the issue, hen not doing enough to ensure a diversity of voices on a three-member panel put together to consult with Canadians this summer.

“We’ve lost a lot of time and Mr. Harper, without talking with anyone, put together rapidly a committee, (which) seems to be mostly of people who think one way on the issue,” said Mulcair in Edmonton, where he promoted the NDP plan to invest in urban infrastructure.

He added that he preferred the approach taken by Quebec, which set up a bi-partisan committee to travel the province seeking input from the population.

He noted his wife, Catherine P. Mulcair, a psychologist who works both in private practice in long-term and palliative care at a community health centre in Verdun, Que., was also consulted in her role on the board of directors at the Order of Psychologists of Quebec.

“It’s something I’ve followed closely. I know it’s a sensitive issue. It calls upon people to understand deeply the suffering of those who would get to that position and show a lot of understanding and compassion, but it’s also something that can be exploited, because it is a very sensitive and emotional issue,” Mulcair said.

He noted the vote in the Quebec National Assembly was not subject to a whip and he would allow his NDP caucus to vote how they wished on a right-to-die bill.

“It was an open, free vote, because it was such a sensitive issue. I will make it a free vote in the Canadian Parliament. I will not be whipping anybody on this. But I do want us to have the time to do it properly,” Mulcair said.

Mulcair was also asked a question about Katherine Swampy, the NDP candidate in the Alberta riding of Battle River—Crowfoot, after a blogger found a photo online of her husband, Armand Swampy, posing alongside someone pointing a replica of a handgun at the camera.

Mulcair had not seen the photo and said he was not prepared to comment, but George Smith, a spokesman for Mulcair, released a statement to media on the campaign tour later Friday morning noting it was a toy gun.

Smith also noted the photo featured the younger brother of Armand Swampy, whose later death by suicide “had an immense impact” on his life.

Armand Swampy is a father of five children, an entrepreneur who speaks to schoolchildren about the importance of education, and counsels youth in his community against suicide.

“He’s a supportive husband who helped Katherine achieve a university degree as she strives to further assist her community by seeking to bring their voice to Ottawa,” Smith said in the statement.

“For Conservatives to now attack family members of candidates, with complete‎ disregard for the facts and the tragedy that they have gone through is a new low in Canadian politics and is simply despicable,” Smith said in the statement.

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